gringa musings from a rooftop terrace in Oaxaca

Stinky plant, attracting flies…

Twenty-four hours in the life of one of the more bizarre, and almost prehistoric-looking, residents of the terrace garden, a Stapelia gigantea…

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Trying to identify this plant I did a Google search using the terms: cactus, stinky, flies, star flower… because it definitely smells gross, has incredibly large zebra striped star-shaped flowers, and is a favorite of green bottle flies!

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Yup. This plant and its relatives all have flowers that smell like rotting meat, rotting garbage, or animal shit. They’re from regions of Africa in which bees aren’t particularly abundant — and they’re all fly-pollinated.

First time I owned one of these, I was living in Tucson. I came home one day and the house just reeked. I thought we’d failed to take out the garbage one day too long . . . wrong. Then I remembered: the Stapelia had been budding. I went to the windowsill, and the fabulous flower was open, and there were dozens of flies on the screen, desperately trying to get to it. After that, the plant lived outside. I still have it, but it doesn’t flower much in Florida, alas.

Easy. Break off a piece. Let it dry for, say, a week. Stick it in some soil (soil w/ a lot of sand). Don’t water it until it shows signs of growing, since it won’t have any roots yet and the tissue in wet soil will just rot.

Might want to do it w/ several pieces (since some of them will die). And larger pieces are more likely to root. If you have any “rooting powder” (often sold as “Rootone”) handy, you can dip the end in it before planting, but it’s not necessary.